WARNING: Tennessee Football Defensive Line QUESTIONS – Can Chaz Coleman and Xavier Gillium DELIVER?

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4.8 • 797 Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tennessee Volunteers fans are shifting their focus from quarterback questions to potential vulnerabilities on the defensive line. With key contributors like Dominic Bailey and Joshua Josephs gone and concerns mounting over depth and unproven talent, Eric Cain discusses whether the Vols’ new transfers—Chaz Coleman, Jordan Norman and Xavier Gilliam—can step up under the pressure of SEC competition. Can Tennessee piece together a formidable defensive front, or is more roster turnover on the horizon? The turmoil doesn’t stop with football. Caleb Jarreau joins to break down the Lady Vols’ chaotic finish: an eight-game losing streak, a potential mass exodus to the transfer portal, and questions swirling around Kim Caldwell’s ability to rebuild. The show wraps with insights from Greg Polinsky on Felix Okpara’s game-changing defensive play as Tennessee basketball eyes a Sweet 16 showdown with Iowa State. Which Volunteers squad is positioned to weather the storm—and who faces a total reset?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Everybody talks about the quarterback position in terms of concern or uncertainty,
0:05.2	but are we not paying enough attention to the defensive line?
0:08.5	I got questions.
0:14.8	You are locked on balls, your daily podcast on the Tennessee Volunteers,
0:19.9	part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.
0:25.0	Hey, everybody, happy Wednesday morning and welcome into it.
0:27.8	This is Locked-on Vols.
0:29.3	I appreciate you guys for being here and being a part of the show.
0:32.5	I am Eric Kane on today's show.
0:34.6	Greg Polinsky, Tennessee basketball assistant, had some great things to say about Felix Aqpara.
0:39.7	Is Okpara the X-Pactor for Tennessee and the Sweet 16?
0:43.9	That's coming to the second number three.
0:45.8	It's going to be a Lady Vols reset.
0:47.2	It certainly feels like already a couple players announcing intentions center of the transfer portal.
0:51.9	Caleb Jaro of the Daily Times going to talk Lady
0:54.3	Balls in segment number two, but first is defensive line a massive concern for the University
0:59.6	of Tennessee. I'm going to go ahead and say this. I like the makeup of the personnel in that
1:05.2	room, and we live in an era of college football to where if you're not experienced and there's a lot
1:09.9	of worry there. And that's kind of where Tennessee is at the quarterback position. And I'm right there with you. I fall victim of that more than anybody, right? You know, I've got a lot of questions about Tennessee at the quarterback position. They're young and experience, but doesn't mean they're not talented. I had questions about Tennessee a wide receiver last year. I like the makeup of the room. I thought Tennessee needed to add another body, but there were a whole lot of question marks about, okay, well, Tennessee's wide receivers in 2024 weren't good, weren't good enough, I should say. And you don't go out and add a big-time contributor. You're going to roll the dice with Chris Brasel that certainly didn't
1:44.9	light up any stat sheet his first year after transferring in from Tulane.
1:49.8	Mike Matthews, who was not used enough as a true freshman, and Brayland Staley, who was a
1:54.2	redshirt freshman last year and played a little bit towards the end of the year in 2024.
	...

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